Correlation Network Analysis reveals a sequential reorganization of metabolic and transcriptional states during germination and gene-metabolite relationships in developing seedlings of Arabidopsis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Holistic profiling and systems biology studies of nutrient availability are providing more and more insight into the mechanisms by which gene expression responds to diverse nutrients and metabolites. Less is known about the mechanisms by which gene expression is affected by endogenous metabolites, which can change dramatically during development. Multivariate statistics and correlation network analysis approaches were applied to non-targeted profiling data to investigate transcriptional and metabolic states and to identify metabolites potentially influencing gene expression during the heterotrophic to autotrophic transition of seedling establishment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Microarray-based transcript profiles were obtained from extracts of Arabidopsis seeds or seedlings harvested from imbibition to eight days-old. ¹H-NMR metabolite profiles were obtained for corresponding samples. Analysis of transcript data revealed high differential gene expression through seedling emergence followed by a period of less change. Differential gene expression increased gradually to day 8, and showed two days, 5 and 7, with a very high proportion of up-regulated genes, including transcription factor/signaling genes. Network cartography using spring embedding revealed two primary clusters of highly correlated metabolites, which appear to reflect temporally distinct metabolic states. Principle Component Analyses of both sets of profiling data produced a chronological spread of time points, which would be expected of a developmental series. The network cartography of the transcript data produced two distinct clusters comprising days 0 to 2 and days 3 to 8, whereas the corresponding analysis of metabolite data revealed a shift of day 2 into the day 3 to 8 group. A metabolite and transcript pair-wise correlation analysis encompassing all time points gave a set of 237 highly significant correlations. Of 129 genes correlated to sucrose, 44 of them were known to be sucrose responsive including a number of transcription factors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Microarray analysis during germination and establishment revealed major transitions in transcriptional activity at time points potentially associated with developmental transitions. Network cartography using spring-embedding indicate that a shift in the state of nutritionally important metabolites precedes a major shift in the transcriptional state going from germination to seedling emergence. Pair-wise linear correlations of transcript and metabolite levels identified many genes known to be influenced by metabolites, and provided other targets to investigate metabolite regulation of gene expression during seedling establishment.</p

1H-NMR metabolomics: Profiling method for a rapid and efficient screening of transgenic plants

Metabolomics-based approaches are methods of choice for studying changes in fruit composition induced by  environmental or genetic modulation of biochemical pathways in the fruit. Owing to enzyme redundancy and  high plasticity of the metabolic network, transgenic alteration of the activity of the enzymes from the central metabolism very often results in only slight modifications of the fruit composition. In order to avoid costly and  time-consuming plant analysis, we used a fast and sensitive 1H-NMR-based metabolomic profiling technique  allowing discovery of slight metabolite variations in a large number of samples. Here, we describe the  screening of transgenic tomato plants in which two genes from the central metabolism, phosphoenolpyruvate  carboxylase (EC.3.4.1.1) and malate synthase (EC 2.3.3.9) were silenced by antisens and RNAi strategy.  1H-NMR metabolomic profiles of methanol-d4 D2O buffer extracts of tomato fruit flesh were acquired and  subjected to unsupervised multivariate statistical analysis. 1H-NMR spectra were binned into variable-size  spectral domains, making it possible to get an overall analysis of a large number of resonances, even in the  case of uncontrolled variation of the chemical shift. Principal component analysis was used to separate groups  of samples and to relate known and unknown metabolites to transgenic events. The screening of 100 samples,  from extraction to data mining, took 36 h. Thus, this procedure allows the rapid selection of metabolic  phenotypes of interest among about 30 transgenic lines.Key words: Metabolome, GMO, tomato, fruit, 1H-NMR profiling, screening

(Homo)glutathione Deficiency Impairs Root-knot Nematode Development in Medicago truncatula

Root-knot nematodes (RKN) are obligatory plant parasitic worms that establish and maintain an intimate relationship with their host plants. During a compatible interaction, RKN induce the redifferentiation of root cells into multinucleate and hypertrophied giant cells essential for nematode growth and reproduction. These metabolically active feeding cells constitute the exclusive source of nutrients for the nematode. Detailed analysis of glutathione (GSH) and homoglutathione (hGSH) metabolism demonstrated the importance of these compounds for the success of nematode infection in Medicago truncatula. We reported quantification of GSH and hGSH and gene expression analysis showing that (h)GSH metabolism in neoformed gall organs differs from that in uninfected roots. Depletion of (h)GSH content impaired nematode egg mass formation and modified the sex ratio. In addition, gene expression and metabolomic analyses showed a substantial modification of starch and γ-aminobutyrate metabolism and of malate and glucose content in (h)GSH-depleted galls. Interestingly, these modifications did not occur in (h)GSH-depleted roots. These various results suggest that (h)GSH have a key role in the regulation of giant cell metabolism. The discovery of these specific plant regulatory elements could lead to the development of new pest management strategies against nematodes

NMRProcFlow: An easy GUI tool dedicated to 1D NMR spectra processing (1H & 13C) for Metabolomics

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RMN métabolomique, aliments & nutrition : quelques exemples de la plateforme Métabolome-MetaboHUB -Bordeaux

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RMN métabolomique, aliments & nutrition : quelques exemples de la plateforme Métabolome-MetaboHUB -Bordeaux

Développement d'une infrastructure française distribuée pour la métabolomique dédiée à l'innovationAdvanced Research Initiatives for Nutrition & Aquacultur

RMN métabolomique, aliments & nutrition : quelques exemples de la plateforme Métabolome-MetaboHUB -Bordeaux

Développement d'une infrastructure française distribuée pour la métabolomique dédiée à l'innovationAdvanced Research Initiatives for Nutrition & Aquacultur

Spatial localization of metabolites in fruits by NMR: tissue dissection and metabolic profiling or non-invasive whole fruit imaging?

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Putative imbalanced amino acid metabolism in rainbow trout long term fed a plant-based diet as revealed by 1 H-NMR metabolomics

The long-term effect of a plant (P)-based diet was assessed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H-NMR) metabolomics in rainbow trout fed a marine fish meal (FM)-fish oil (FO) diet (M), a P-based diet and a control commercial-like diet (C) starting with the first feeding. Growth performances were not heavily altered by long-term feeding on the P-based diet. An 1 H-NMR metabolomic analysis of the feed revealed significantly different soluble chemical compound profiles between the diets. A set of soluble chemical compounds was found to be specific either to the P-based diet or to the M diet. Pterin, a biomarker of plant feedstuffs, was identified both in the P-based diet and in the plasma of fish fed the P-based diet. 1 H-NMR metabolomic analysis on fish plasma and liver and muscle tissues at 6 and 48 h post feeding revealed significantly different profiles between the P-based diet and the M diet, while the C diet showed intermediate results. A higher amino acid content was found in the plasma of fish fed the P-based diet compared with the M diet after 48 h, suggesting either a delayed delivery of the amino acids or a lower amino acid utilisation in the P-based diet. This was associated with an accumulation of essential amino acids and the depletion of glutamine in the muscle, together with an accumulation of choline in the liver. Combined with an anticipated absorption of methionine and lysine supplemented in free form, the present results suggest an imbalanced essential amino acid supply for protein metabolism in the muscle and for specific functions of the liver.Développement d'une infrastructure française distribuée pour la métabolomique dédiée à l'innovatio